Top Power Hitting Prospects: High A

California League:
1. Chris Carter- OAK 1B/3B 22- 29hr's.
2. Corey Brown- OAK CF 22- 20hr's between A/HA
3. Josh Donaldson- OAK C 22- 12hr's between A/HA
4. Mark Trumbo LAA 22- 26hrs. terrible OBP will probably restrict him from being considered an upper echelon 1B prospect.
5. Greg Halman- 21 SEA- 26 hrs on the year. steals bases. can't take a walk. currently in AA. Great tools but might never refine them enough to capitalize on his considerable potential.
6. Josh Reddick BOS 21- 19hrs. Doesn't strikeout too much en route to hitting for good power. Hits for a high average but doesn't draw many walks.
7. Lars Anderson BOS 1B 20- 13hr's 19 2b- Has not hit as many hr's as expected considering he plays in a very hitter friendly ballpark in the California league. However, he is still young and everything else looks very good and he doesn't strikeout much for a power hitter. IMO, it's only a matter of time until he starts really tapping into that great power potential. He is argueable the best overall 1b prospect in the minors.
8. Hank Conger- C LAA 20- 8 hrs 180 ab's- Was injured at the start of the year. Very good power for a C prospect. Doesn't appear to draw too many walks. Angels blahh.
9. Luis Esposito- BOS C 21- 19hr's between A/HA. Haven't heard anything about him before. Maybe he is not expected to stick at C b/c of the fact that their is a lot of talk about how the Sox lack any type of heir apparent to Varitek in their system. Decent average but doesn't draw many walks.
10. Austin Gallagher- LAD 19 3B/1B- 31 2b 5 hr's. This one isn't as apparent as some of the others because he has only belted 5hr's in a hitters league. However, there is a couple of strong indicators that he will develop into a very good power hitter. First is the fact that he is only 19 in the california league and has smacked 31 2b's- which should turn into hr's as he grows older. He is 6'5 210 so he definatly has the frame to add muscle to assist in turning those 2b's into hr's. He also is hitting for a very good average and doesn't SO at an alarming rate. The one negative about Gallagher is the fact that he doesn't appear to draw many walks. However, that could just be b/c of his age, and something he needs to learn, as well as a tendancy, for a CAL league player, to try to put the ball in play as much as possible.


FSL:
1. Juan Francisco CIN 21 3B- huge raw power but not very polished otherwise
2. Logan Morrison FL 20- 13hrs 34 2b's- Is establishing himself firmly in the upper echolon of 1b prospects. Hits for a good average. HAs kept his SO total well in check. Could stand to draws some more walks in order to become a complete hitter.
3. Todd Frazier CIN 3b/SS 22- 17hr's between A/HA. Good average and OBP. Keeps SO totals in check. Looks like a very good all around hitter with 20-25 hr potential. Doubtful he can stick at SS, but if he can, he could put up all-star quality numbers for that position.
4. Neftali Soto CIN 3b/SS 19- 7hr's 17 2b's 176ab's between A/HA. Hitting .341 also. Arguably CIN top prospect. Hasn't shown the ability to draw much walks but still very young.
5. J.P. Arencibia C TOR 22 A/AA- 23hr's between the 2 leagues. Hits for average. Doesn't strike out much. Doesn't draw many walks. Seems like a very good C prospect except for the fact that his walk totals are atrocious.
6. Ryan Royster TB OF 22- Having a terrible year and clearly not showing the type of leap forward, power or otherwise, that was expected of him. However, 30 hr's in low A last year was very promising and a bounce back year, next year, could put him back in the upper echelon of power hitters in the minors.
7. Jonathan Lucroy C MIL 22- 16 hr's between low and high A. Maybe not quite an upper echelon power hitter. However, plays a premium position. has posted almost a 1/1 walk to strikeout ratio. Hits for a good average and posts a good OBP. Just turned 22.

Carolina League:
1. Beau Mills- 1B CLE 22- 17 hr's. Drafted in 07 in the first round and promptly moved from 3rd to 1st. hitting for decent average and draws walks. Strikeouts not too alarming, especially for a power hitter.
2. Brandon Hicks- SS ATL- 17hr's. Displays very good power for a SS. Just got moved up to AA. Only hitting .232 but hit for .285 last year and also displays very good patience. Strikeouts a good amount this year but last year didn't strikeout that much. Overall very interesting prospect who seems like he has the potential to put it all together and become an upper echelon prospect at a premium position.
3. Brandon Snyder- BAL 1B- 11hrs 25 2b. Was a pretty good power hitting prospect coming into the season. 22 in HA. Not too impressed with only 11 hr's.
4. Chris Marrero WAS 1b 20- 11 hr's 15 2b 25ab's. Hitting .250 .326 25/55 BB/SO ratio. Very good 1b prospect coming into the year. I have heard a lot of gripe about him having a down year. I think he has started to come around as of late. The numbers certainly aren't eye popping but for a 20yr old player in high A these are not damning numbers by any stretch. I expect him to repeat HA next year and mash.
5. Nick Weglarz- CLE OF/1B 20yr- 10hr 20 2b. hits for a decent, not great, average but displays great plate patience with .400 OBP. Like Marrero, young for HA but doing a great job of holding his own and is expected to become an elite power hitting prospect sooner rather than later. If he can't stick in the outfield. A possible logjam could develop in CLE with Mills, Laporta, and Weglarz. Could create an opp. for beane to steal one of them.
6. Carlos Santana- CLE C 22- 34 2b 14 hr. Shows great all-around number's and even has 10 more walks than SO's on the year. Is clearly establishing himself as an upper-echolon catching prospect. A move to AA soon would probably be good considering his age.